One of America's most successful reality television shows, American Idol, could be thisclose to reality TV heaven.

Let's just say AI is not having a great season!

The long-running show has been at the top of the viewership for YEARS now, but last night the singing competition had the its lowest ratings in 11 years!!!

We guess people weren't interested in rocking and rolling because even though Rock Night was filled with classic faves like the Rolling Stones, Queen, and Bon Jovi, that still wasn't enough to draw in an audience.

While Idol tends to see a climb in the ratings as the season ends, it has only dipped lower and lower as the remaining finalists get the boot, falling 3 percent from last week.

YIKES!

Questions of whether or not controversial AI judge Nicki Minaj will return next season have been swirling , but a more important questions is SHOULD AI have another season??!

All good things must come to an end eventually, even American TV staples!

why would anyone want to see nicki judge other people, when she's talent-less herself? i love mariah carey, and i really want to watch the show because of her - but with nicki being on the screen, it's impossible to stand it… just saying!

The judges don't gel this year, nothing like The Voice. I like Keith, and that he can give opinions on country. Randy is good. I am not a huge Minaj fan, and I am not sure how helpful Mariah is with her critiques. I can't quite put my finger on why I am not into the contestants this year, too. They are either R&B or country, but no rockers or anything unique to add something. I used to LOVE watching Phil Phillips and the cast last year.

I have lot's of friends that have been watching the show for all 11 seasons and they just refuse to watch it this year because of Nicki. They're all "white, conservative people from middle America lol but still, the produces should have known that they were going to alienate their core audience by hiring "ghetto, obnoxious" Nicki Minaj.

This is def it's last season. All the signs are there & I remember that a psychic had predicted that this would be it's last season so I believe it. Tbh, it should've ended a long time ago. It's always good to bow out while ur still on top. Instead they did what Hollywood always does & let it die a slow death & lost all its integrity so they can milk every last penny out of it. Now AI will not be known as the juggernaut it once was but as a show that overstayed it's welcome & almost ruined Mariah/Nicki's career.

everything about the show sucks:
Mariah Carey is so gushy over every singer…
Nicki Manaj is fake and her nasal voice is totally grating to listen to…
The male judges are boring…
and the singing is, at best, pedestrian…or as they would say, like low class lounge talent.
Agree that it needs to be its last season…put it to bed.

The show needs to go. NM is horrible judge. There is no chemistry between any of them. Plus I watch the Voice. Much better show with better judges. Mariah is ok though she would have been great on Xfactor instead of Idol.

I think when Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler were on it was sort of a nice breath of air. Then, they get replaced with Nikki Minaj and Mariah Carey. Whether she is talented or not, Mariah Carey comes off as cocky and unlikeable. Then, you have NIkki Minaj who many people still don't know. Then, Randy and Urban are both fairly quiet. Not to mention, the recent talent that has won hasn't faired terribly well on the music charts, there aren't a lot of reasons to watch. They brought people into shake it up, but the music talent this year, good or bad, isn't enough to keep people watching.

The kids on the show were pre-picked The top 24 anyway. If you're going to have a Rock star week why not have some rockstars mentor them—-Having them do Billy Joel on rock week??? love Bj, but. If you're going to have Smokey mentor let him do it w/ Flea, he is old too and has written some gorgeous melodies. As far as the panel Nicki has such a cute vocab 4 a 10yr old. The rest of them personalities of tissue. Keith U are u the resident Nurse, "um what hurts" "you look like you don't feel good". "Yes my toe hurts" Good Lord…Mariah go psycho pretend it's TRL.

They need to just stop. They started failing as soon as they cared more about the judges being the stars of the show than the contestants. And really, classic rock is great, but their viewers are the younger generations.. don't think the majority of them care too much about classic rock…

First off you hire a judge who is only famous because of her outrageous look etc no talent take away those synthesizer
Two you hire another judge that is such a diva that she has forgotten that its about the music….three it's time to go it was good like 6 years ago ..,,,rip no one will mss you

I used to watch american idol all the time but only turned it on for the first time this season last night. It was just terrible and i only had it on for about 20 minutes. I felt like the contestants werent even that good, kept forgetting words and had never heard classic songs by some of the biggest bands Of all time. It was kind of pathetic. The voice is so much better.

Thats Because they should have never went with Nicki Minaj, honestly she is not at the leve to be a Judge, love Mariah and Keith, how about if they would have asked Miley Cyrus or even KELLY CLARKSON!! That would be AWSOME to have the 1st ever Idol be a Judge. Just my thoughts.

THANK goodness! I don't know what they were thinking with the new judges. The problem was that the judges could always use a little mix up but the two previous seasons with Jennifer and Tyler and Randy was seriously a PERFECT combination of fun and serious. Who would want to watch anyone else as judges?

Everyone is so quick to blame Nicki…and while I think she's a part of the problem, she's not the whole problem. The show is just plain BORING!! I agree with the people saying that The Voice is much more entertaining.

I only missed 5 total episodes of American Idol in all of its previous years on the air, but this season I haven't even been able to sit through a single episode. I dislike Nicki Minaj, and feel that Mariah is way overrated.

I watch The Voice because the judges are hilarious and their interaction with contestants and each other are hilarious. With AI, we already know that the AI crown will go to Angie. Everything else is drama.

Agreed, I quit watching just because of her. The last show I watched was the one when she was late and I turned it off once she got there. She ruined it for me, Mariah wasn't too bad, but Nikki, ugh. Re: jaykillzz –

i agree,they have been singing the same songs again and again.there r too many old songs and old mentors coming up in this show now.whats up AI?i like nikkie though she unbalances the show and makes it interesting.She brings in a younger perspective to the show.Go learns some new songs AI.I dont know where they got this idea that they should be singing these old songs again and again.

I'll admit that the judging isn't great this year, BUT the talent is incredible and that's what the show is about. The singers are so good and should be given credit for that. The fact that Nicki is really annoying shouldn't take away from the amazing talent this year, and it's a bummer that it does. I may mute it when she talks, but the rest of the show is still worth watching.

honestly people are making too big of a deal about the ratings drop. Idols' ratings have been dropping consistently over the years it's a natural thing. Will it be back next year? Yes. it is still in the top 10 which is fabulous by ratings standards nowadays, guaranteed viewers . Shows that don't even get in the top 20 are the onea usually cancelled. To cancel Idol and replace it with a new show that may not even get half the ratings it gets would be foolish

I've been waiting for the American people to realize that this show is too staged and the voting is skewed. I quit watching it in the 6th year. I watched parts of season 9 and 10 but it was too horrible to draw me back in again.

WORD to Nigel and Midget Mike Darnell: It's 2013!!! NOT the 90s. Give viewers some CURRENT music and shift the focus back to the contestants and AWAY FROM THE OVER-PRICED, OVER-HYPED "super" star judges. They are almost as AWFUL this season as J. Lo and CREEPY Steven Tyler were last season. Almost. Mariah is a douche and Minaj is WORSE! And Keith WHAT'S HIS NAME is a joke. But at least he makes Randy "luckiest man in showbiz" Jackson look slightly better. WORD.

Iam sorry, but 11 years is a good run for a show who has done three super stars and given so many a chance to shine in the lime light. This show was ok before there was The Voice I for one would never watch American Idol if The Voice is on. The Coaches are truly talented stars and they invest themselves to make great talented people to amazing. they have elevated the standards. It is time that we AMERICANS invest in our own. The Brits have made enough money from these shows, American Idol, Americas Got Talent, So You Think You Can Dance and Dancing with The Stars…go home. We Americans need to bring it home, help our own especially in this hard time. When we are back to what we where and better then we are strong enough to reach out to others.
I lived in Europe over 25 years and I never seen them allow Americans to captivate their industry.

Get rid of Nicki. WTH kind of musical knowledge does SHE have, ms. rap/auto tune? The dislike she has for Mariah is evident, even to the point of pointing her chair away from her, and honestly, that grade school crap is getting old. I think Mariah tempers her opinions because of Nicki's attitude and eye-rolling. Maybe without her, she could be more herself. Yes, she's a Diva, but she's earned that rep. And America is a bunch of idiots. Voting off two of the top male vocalists, and we are left with…Lazaro, who is a Sanjaya circa 2013 with a sympathy vote to put him in the TOP THREE when he CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER THE DAMN LYRICS?! /facepalm And they wonder why the ratings are at an all-time low? Quit dragging the show out to two hours with stupid duets, ditch the judge with no musical expertise (*kaffNICKIMINAJ*kaff) and don't let America vote til maybe the top 3, and then let the judges have veto power. Just sayin'.

the show has been hurt by Minaj. She turned a lot of people off since the auditions, and continues to piss people off with her strange behavior. She seems a bit nuts, and then she'll be almost normal. She won't shut up though. It would have been better with just Randy, Mariah and Keith. When they did the auditions and Mariah sat next to Keith, they had a cute dynamic…but of course Randy had to take that spot. He always, or nearly always goes along with Nicki and keeps pushing for certain singers. Minaj won't look at Mariah, rolls her eyes and since she isn't getting any attention from Mariah she is now making strange faces when Keith is trying to make his remarks…it is beyond annoying. I still think some of these kids have real potential. All those gone should have gone…based on performance so far America has got it right. The tweens still might vote Laz in, but the guy isn't bad, and we still get to see singers like Angie, Janelle and Amber get better each week…Candace and Kree already have great control of their voices…they all sound pretty good. Even most of the guys…especially Devin sound better than some starts out there like Bieber…Devin has much more range than biebs..too bad they took his songs away and were pushing Burnell…Devin was far superior vocally.

Re: Dan – Laz actually remembered all the lyrics to his solos which are the only ones that count. I agree Nicki has to go, she has stifled Mariah and is now making idiotic faces at Keith. The other boys were not as good, except Divan…but Nicki and Randy kept trashing him and the producers even denied him some songs that fit his lovely voice. The girls are very talented..and Laz has done a fine job. Many who are in the competition go on to careers regardless if they win or not. It is still an excellent opportunity. The tweens over the past 7 years were choosing cute white guys with guitars who really weren't anything much vocally, but we have seen some good and even great voices come from the show. They guys who left actually did perform poorly the weeks they were voted off. Song choice seems to be as usual a really important factor. The girls are just much better.

There is only one person to blame for this, Mariah Carey…She's boring, looks drunk most of the time and unless the song is a nursery rhyme(like most of her music) she's shown that her "talent" is manufactured and not real. At least Nicki is entertaining and keeps buzz going, Mariah has done nothing for the show but ruined it. BTW, Where are her lambs? I know her last 10 songs fail, Almost home didn't chart anywhere, but I thought the fans would stick by her. The world has taken a good look at Carey's dull and self absorbed personality and is clear nobody gives a shit.

The person who made the show was simon; after he left the show was not the same. Idol needs to get rid of both minaj and carey because their personalities on the show are both unbearable. unless a decent female comes in (ie. Someone like paula or jlo) and simon makes a return, i refuse to waste my time watching those two parrots flap their beaks